Laying the foundations for MYIF

Previous posts on this blog have only hinted at exactly *how* I am planning to embrace the flux. The next paragraph or two will give you a sense of preliminary plans, including my weekly challenge and an eye-wateringly exciting journey across the Americas.

Stopping workingWork just gets in the way sometimes doesn’t it? On 1 Mar 2013 I delivered on a bold decision I’d taken a year earlier. I left my job (as a video producer for the London production company I set up in 2007) behind with absolutely no plans for what I would do next in my career, nor how I would earn money. Instead, I decided to spend a year experiencing new and different things with the hope that this will inform my next move.

Leaving home and possessions behindLater in March 2013 my wife and I will/have (depending on when you read this) left behind our London flat in search of pastures new. Central to the Flux plan is embracing risk and novelty, and doing that from behind the barricades of your own home and stuff just seemed counterintuitive! So our flat is rented and our possessions are either sold or locked away.

Visiting new places
Early on in the planning phase of MYIF my wife declared her ambition to do some serious traveling, this became a central part of the Flux plan – after all, it’ll be far easier to continually change and challenge myself in a regularly changing environment outside the comfort zone.

So the first six months of MYIF will include many, many new places and faces! Our route will take in the West Coast of the USA plus some of Central and South America. There are no plans beyond this, so come September 2013, expect some non-traveling flux fun!

Deciding not to write a classic travel blog
I love reading travel blogs and have soaked up so much wisdom from the likes of Nomadic Matt and Never Ending Voyage, but I’m really not a traveler of any distinction, nor do I think the world needs another generic travel blog, because there are w-a-a-a-a-y too many people out there doing a sterling job already (plus a few ropey ones!).

So, whilst my traveling in 2013 will inform this blog and no doubt have an important part to play in My Year In Flux, it is not the be all and end all and I won’t be waving backpacker platitudes in your face. Okay, well maybe just the occasional sunset photo, I am a sucker for ‘em.

And finally…new challenges every week
Most importantly, every single week I will undertake a new challenge, (see my foray into language learning, an early but significant example).

On this blog I’ll be sharing my feedback and reflections on all of these challenges – large and small – and hope that there will be suggestions for new challenges from YOU as well!

The weekly challenge element will offer some structure to the year. I expect it to prove conclusively that the regular introduction of new elements, skills and ideas can re-train the brain and enrich our lives considerably. And that, dear reader, is the crux of this blog.